Description of the mazus plant, planting and care in open ground, recommendations for reproduction, how to deal with pests and diseases, interesting notes, species.
Mazus (Mazus) belongs to the genus of plants belonging to the Scrophulariaceae family. There is evidence that this genus previously belonged to the Phrymaceae family, but due to additional studies carried out recently, they began to be attributed to the Mazaceae family. The genus includes about 30-40 species, which in nature are mainly found in humid habitats in the lowland or mountainous regions of China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. However, the territories of the Himalayas are recognized as the true homeland.
| Family name | Norichnikovye or Mazusovye |
| Growing period | Perennial or annual |
| Vegetation form | Herbaceous |
| Breeding method | Seed and vegetative (bush division) |
| Landing period | In early autumn or spring, when the soil warms up |
| Landing rules | The distance between the bushes is left at least 50 cm |
| Priming | Any nutritious garden |
| Soil acidity values, pH | 6, 5-7 - neutral |
| Lighting degree | Open sunny location, but shady places are also suitable |
| Humidity parameters | The soil must be kept in a moderately moist state |
| Special care rules | Do not allow soil to be flooded |
| Height and length values of shoots | No more than 15 cm in height, almost 50 cm in length |
| Inflorescences or type of flowers | Single large double-lipped flowers can sometimes gather in axillary racemes |
| Flower color | White, purple |
| Flowering period | From early summer to autumn |
| Decorative time | Spring-Autumn |
| Application in landscape design | As a ground cover crop in rockeries and rock gardens, shady flower beds, next to curbs or between slabs on garden paths |
| USDA zone | 5–8 |
The life span of these plants directly depends on the variety; they can be both annuals and perennial crops. Biennials can be grown in our latitudes. Mazus species are undersized ground cover shrubs, the height of shoots in which rarely exceeds 7–15 cm, but the length may exceed half a meter. Their stems are weaving, and covering the soil with a continuous carpet of greenery and flowers. The growth rate is simply remarkable, so such plantings are successfully used by landscape designers to hide free areas between stones in rockeries or stone gardens. It is this swiftness in growth that has become the main advantage of Mazus when used in the garden.
The stems of the plant themselves are thin, and along the entire length are covered with leafy plates of small sizes. The color of the foliage is a rich green color with a turquoise undertone. The edge of the leaf plate is decorated with teeth. When the time of flowering comes, then this ground cover begins to decorate with numerous blossoming buds with white or crimson petals.
In this case, the central part of the corolla can be painted in a whitish or yellowish tint. The shape of the flower is quite original, as it consists of a pair of lips. The outline of the upper lip is small, the lower one exceeds it in length and has three petals. At the same time, the lower lip is decorated with a scattering of multiple small specks. This cute yellowish or whitish pattern gives a special modest charm to Mazus flowers. The places where flowers can appear are axillary (in the axils of the leaves) or crown the tops of the shoots. Each flower is attached to a shortened flowering stem.
The flowering process stretches from the beginning of summer days to mid-autumn. However, the peak of bud opening occurs between June and August. At the same time, the entire deciduous carpet becomes very beautiful, acquiring a lilac-purple color scheme. After the flowers are pollinated, the fruits ripen, which have the appearance of a box filled with multiple seeds. Scattering, they serve as material for the renewal and growth of the plant.
Despite the high growth rate, mazus can easily succumb to restriction of distribution, therefore, it is applicable for landscaping any landscape zones that require ground cover. It is curious that even if the gardener does not prepare the plant correctly for wintering, it can easily survive frosts of 40 degrees.
Mazus planting and care in open ground
- Landing place of this ground cover crop should be selected following natural preferences. So the Mazus will feel good in shady places, between the slabs on garden paths or in any crevices. However, great decorativeness will be achieved by bushes only with a sunny location.
- Soil for Mazus picking up is not difficult, since the plant can grow well on any garden fertile substrate and neutral acidity at pH 6, 5–7.
- Mazus landing. It is recommended to carry it out when the soil in the garden is well warmed up, but some gardeners argue that this ground cover can take root quite well in cold soil. It is recommended to leave the distance between the seedlings at least 50 cm due to the fact that the shoots tend to grow strongly. At first, it is recommended to provide shading to the plants. After the bushes are planted, they are watered, but its generosity will depend on the soil in which the mazus is planted. If the soil retains moisture well, then moisture should be minimal. When planting, you can apply top dressing using any complex complete mineral fertilizer. They can be funds that are widely represented in specialized flower shops - Vermisol, Nanite, Oracle, and the like.
- Watering for this ground cover crop, it is the most important aspect in the care, since the mazus will show excellent growth and flowering only when the substrate moisture is normal. If there is a slight drying of the soil, then the plant can withstand it, but then you should not expect lush flowering and large flowers. Because of this, the entire decorativeness of the "green carpet" will quickly decline. If the summer is too hot and dry, you can water the Mazus plantings several times during the growing season. When the amount of precipitation is normal, then such soil moisture is not needed.
- Fertilizers. Some gardeners, instead of watering, feed the mazus with a mullein-based solution or full mineral fertilizer. Such measures will promote the growth of green mass and subsequent flowering. Fertilizers such as Fertika or Kemira-Universal are suitable. But at the same time it is important not to violate the recommendations of the manufacturers, otherwise the growth of deciduous mass (with an overdose of nitrogen) is possible to the detriment of flowering. It is not bad to feed with organic matter or mullein before winter.
- Wintering Mazus although it does not constitute a problem, since it has high frost resistance, but some varieties can suffer from freezing of the shoots in snowless and frosty winters. It is best to cover the planting with spruce branches, and if there is snow, then throw it over the shelter. With the arrival of spring, in order to avoid damping, as soon as the snow completely melts, it is recommended to remove such a shelter. Some gardeners water the plantings of mazus in autumn with a decoction prepared on the basis of any medicinal herbs. This will help the bushes to cope with wintering more easily and to be provided with a supply of substances that feed the root system until spring.
- General advice on care. It is necessary to timely remove faded buds or damaged shoots. The remnants of mazus are often used as a mulching layer for a flower bed. For the entire growing season, you need to fight weeds and periodically loosen the soil next to the bushes. Too deep loosening is prohibited, as it can damage the root system. Also, by simply pulling out stems that are too elongated, you need to limit the spread of the ground cover.
- The use of mazus in landscape design. As mentioned above, because of its creeping shoots, the plant is successfully used by phytodesigners as a cover for voids between stones in rockeries and alpine hills. Not only its greenery, but also delicate flowers will serve as a wonderful decoration. Such plantings can not only decorate garden paths or places in flower beds, but also plant greenery under fruit trees. A good solution would be to combine mazus with other plants that do not require close care, for example, Erodium (Erodium reichardii) or Alpine geranium, Common scabbard (Hydrocotyle vulgaris) or Money-tree, River Laurentia (Isotoma fluviatilis) or River Isotome, Laptinella squalella squalid and Sparrow sparrow (Lysimachia nummularia) or Meadow tea. It happens that in the garden, planting Mazus will be well combined with flowers such as abdans and lilies of the valley, next to it, a clear and tenacious look beautiful, as well as a lumbago.
See also tips for glaucidium maintenance, planting and care.
Recommendations for breeding Mazus
To reproduce the presented ground cover, you should apply the seed or vegetative method. At the same time, the latter in itself contains the division of an overgrown bush.
- Propagation of mazus by seeds. After the seed pods are collected from the shoots, the seed is removed from them and stored in paper bags until spring. As soon as the soil warms up enough, seeds are immediately sown on the prepared place in the flower bed, placing them at a distance of 15–20 cm from each other. mass. After sowing, the soil is moistened and kept moist. Here it is important to find such an irrigation regime so that the soil is not flooded and sour.
- Propagation of Mazus by division. The best time for this procedure is September or the end of March. In the first case, this coincides with the end of flowering, in the second, it precedes the beginning of vegetative activity. The bush, without removing it from the ground, is divided with a sharpened shovel into divisions, cutting the root system. Don't be afraid to make them too small. And this is not because the plant does not take root, it is just that even small parts of the roots are enough to create a "green carpet". The distance between the plots is maintained at least 0.5 m, since the mazus grows very quickly. Rooting takes place very quickly. But the first time after planting, the dealers will need to ensure good watering, but at the same time it is important that moisture does not stagnate in the root zone. Otherwise, it can lead to decay of the roots.
Some gardeners root parts of the stems with roots in greenhouse conditions or greenhouses.
How to deal with pests and diseases when growing Mazus in the garden?
Despite the particular unpretentiousness of this ground cover, there are still some features in its cultivation. These simple "tricks" will help you enjoy an amazing carpet of foliage and delicate flowers throughout the summer. It happens that the following difficulties may occur during cultivation:
- The growth of the bush is very slow and poor. Basically, this happens when the Mazus does not have enough lighting level, and the soil is also characterized by high acidity, too poor or clayey. If the substrate is too acidic, then liming is carried out. When the soil on the site is waterlogged, then watering it is required infrequently and very sparsely, but with high dryness of moisture, on the contrary, it should be frequent and abundant.
- Too high growth rate of shoots in the absence of flowering. This problem arises when the dose of fertilizing is exceeded, especially with a high nitrogen content.
- The plant dies. A possible reason is stagnation of moisture in the soil, which led to overmoistening of the root system of the mazus and its inevitable decay. It is important here to see the problem in time and limit moisture.
- Freezing of branches. Although the plant is characterized by frost resistance and can tolerate a decrease in the thermometer column to around -40 units, if the planting of mazus is not covered, then it is occasionally exposed to freezing. However, if they forgot about the shelter, then in the spring you can see that the plant will gradually recover even from a piece of the root or seeds sown in the fall. To avoid such a problem, it is recommended to cover some Mazus varieties with spruce branches.
- Uncontrolled overgrowth. To prevent this from happening, because mazus can aggressively seize nearby territories, you just need to remove (pull out) new branches. When planting, keep at least half a meter between the bushes.
Gardeners can be pleased with the fact that Mazus is practically not susceptible to diseases (except for root rot) and pests.
Interesting notes about the mazus plant
It has been noticed that plants with lilac flowers have a slower growth rate than their "counterparts" with whitish flower petals. The bush can, even after it is completely uprooted from the site, revive, as if from nowhere, but the source here is pieces of roots or seeds sown in the fall.
It is curious that in Germany such a plant species as creeping - Mazus reptans is called Lippenmaulchen. Despite the fact that botanists have known about mazus for a long time, gardeners became interested in it only in the 19th century. Among all types, only three are most popular, which will be discussed below.
Types of Mazus
Creeping Mazus (Mazus reptans)
may occur under the name Mazus Reptans … The native habitat is in the regions of the Himalayas and Asia (Japan, China and the southeastern regions). A perennial herb with a very high growth rate. Stems may not exceed 7 cm in height, but sometimes their length reaches 50 cm. Many specimens reach a height of 15 cm with a spread of shoots of only 15–30 cm. Stems are creeping and thin, with the ability to root in nodes. They are covered with small leaves. The leaf plates are small with a serrated edge, their color is pleasant greenish-turquoise color.
Blooming flowers in spring and summer have a color ranging from whitish to purple-blue. The flower corolla is two-lipped and at the same time can also take on shades ranging from violet-blue to pink or whitish. The inner part is spotted with a whitish or yellowish color scheme. After flowering, the ripening fruits look like polyspermous bolls.
Today, through the efforts of breeders, a large number of varieties of mazus have been bred, but among them it is very popular "Alba" or "Albus", since the flowers are snow-white, devoid of a speckled pattern on the lower lip.
Rooting Mazus (Mazus radicans),
can also occur under the name Mazus knotty or Mazus marsh … It is clear that one of the species name is due to the areas of distribution of the plant - these are swampy areas on the South Island of New Zealand. A perennial creeping herbaceous plant easily takes root in the nodes. Lateral shoots are shortened and strongly leafy, with clearly visible internodes on leafy, underground or horizontally spread branches. The carpet, which is formed by the shoots, can reach a height of 10 cm.
The foliage has a brownish or greenish-bronze tint. The outlines of the leaf plate are obovate or elliptical, and can be broadly oval. The length is about 5–35 mm and the width is about 4–15 mm. A leaf with a slight waviness. Serration is present at the edge and top. The leaf edge is characterized by the presence of soft hairs. Inflorescences are usually found at the end of short lateral branches with 15–30 mm long flowers. Bracts have various shapes and sizes, and are located, alternating along the pedicels about 30–35 mm. The lower bracts are sometimes 2.5–7 mm long and have pubescence of hairs.
The calyx is about 3–7.5 mm long with a purple coloration. The flower is snow-white on the outside, but its inner part is purple, and the base is of a deep purple color scheme. The lip is whitish or yellowish. The lower lip has rounded, bare petals. The length of the tube is twice the length of the calyx. The upper lip is about 4–8.5 mm. The active flowering phase occurs in July and the process will stretch until the end of summer.
The fruits resemble capsules or capsules that do not fall off. Their color is pinkish or red, the shape resembles a wide ellipsoid. There are a lot of seeds inside. The plant is winter-hardy and can painlessly tolerate a decrease in the thermometer column to -25 degrees below zero.
Dwarf Mazus (Mazus pumilus)
may also occur under the name Japanese Mazus … Native growing lands are in South and East Asia, which include Bhutan and China, India and Indonesia, Japan and Korea, Nepal and New Guinea, Taiwan and the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. It can also be found in Russia. Thanks to man, it began to grow on the territory of the North American continent. Prefers moist soil, can fill pastures and sidewalk cracks in cities.
The height of the stems will almost never exceed 30 cm in vertical cultivation. The color of the flowers is purple, blue or whitish with a yellow spot on the throat. Flowering takes up almost the entire growing season. The leaf plates with their outlines resemble a scapula, their color is green or dark emerald. Indispensable when decorating rockeries and filling gaps between slabs and stones.
Also, the species that is gaining popularity recently are considered Fine Mazus (Mazus gracilis) or Mazus garcilis. Similar to Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces in China. Grows on the shores of lakes, rivers and other humid areas at elevations below 800 m. Herbaceous perennial, which quickly spreads with the help of shoots creeping along the surface of the soil. Plant height is 20-30 cm. The length of the leaf plate does not exceed 2.5 cm. Flowers are collected in axillary racemes. The color of the petals in flowers is yellow, white or purple, sometimes they are found with a pattern in the form of spots of a different tone.
Video about growing Mazus in open field conditions:
